Hey group, I know there is some past discussions on this and I have reviewed quite a bit but things change over time and opinions on quality change over time as well.

I'm interested in hearing fresh opinions on which flight cases work best in airplanes like the CRJ and which overnight bags are best. What about food coolers, waste of time and money or no? And what is a tote?

One of the things that is important to me is to be able to safely carry a small laptop without having it damaged. Do any of the cases or overnight bags have a special hardened compartment for laptops? Also important is the quality of the pieces, would like to have these bags around for 5 years. Money is not necessarily a main driver, but good value is.

Trash bags work pretty well

I can't speak to the rollaboards (I just use one I've had sitting around for a while), but my eBags food cooler is an absolute must-have. It has a large pocket at the top (uninsulated) for granola bars, chocolates, tea, vitamins, aspirins, etc...basically anything that doesn't need to stay cool. On the sides it has 2 small pockets that perfectly fit my phone on one side, plus my sunglasses and wet-wipes in the other.

The front has a long zippered compartment where I keep my passport, flashlight, and anything else important. My reason being, even if someone steals my rollaboard that's sitting back above row 15 or wherever, I'll still have my vital documents...because the cooler fits perfectly behind my right shoulder on the RJ.

The main part of the bag is insulated. I can carry four days' worth of food (4 lunches, 4 dinners) in there if I pack carefully. Twelve hours ago I put two bags of ice in there, and I opened it just now to find that the ice had barely started to melt, and all my food had stayed cold.

It's the best $50 I've ever spent.

As for laptops, I just slide mine in the middle of my rollaboard and cushion it with T-shirts, etc, as well as a soft rubber laptop protector. I used to carry a separate backpack with a specially-designed laptop protector compartment...but got really, really tired of dragging 3 bags on all my trips. Now I just use the rollaboard and the eBags cooler.

No way, that's not going to protect the laptop... However, it goes in the CRJ overhead bin real easy.

What drives me nuts is how the -200 has a closet up front (admittedly, for the CA's bag) and the -700 doesn't.

At least I can fit my rollaboard in the -700 bin when it's overstuffed. I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to handle a 4-day trip on the -200 with its smaller overhead bins. Maybe just wear the same clothes all trip long ;-)

Actually you can fit 2 bags in the 200 cockpit closet if you lay them down on its side. I always put mine up there as well.

If you have a luggage works 22" it should fit perfectly in the overheads of either

If you work for Skywest make sure you only carry the cooler and carry it like a messenger bag over your shoulder. Looks good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=so93nqxZLjM

You're welcome.

That burrito looks delicious

That's pretty nifty! Will have to give that a try.

Now if they could only find a way to magically compress a laptop and a pair of sneakers...those tend to take up the most room in my rollaboard.